Re: Hw vs Fw

[Byron Harward <byron@code-co.com>]

>Our Junior rider weighs 138 soaking wet. 
>Rides a nice mare with easy trot.  When in training the pulse of this mare
>is usually 10 to 15 beats below mine, unless we are going up hill.  Then it
>really jumps.  The muscle bulk on my gelding is a lot more than on the
>mare.  Part of that goes to his build.  The rest goes to having to carry my
>233#.  So whats going on here?  A higher  pulse due to my weight.  Both
>horses by the way have been at it for the same amount of time.  Ride and
>race together.  While out on rides when my junior rider is not along I'll
>ask a lightweight that I may be riding with; whats your pulse?.  And just
>about every time they will be 10 to 15 beats under Big Red.


Thought I would add my anecdote to the others. At a post ride weigh-in, I
tip the scales at 235-245lb I ride a 15-2 Arab Tzadik. I always ride with a
monitor (training, sight-seeing and in a ride) I have another monitor for
my daughter (135-145 at weigh-in) when she trains our other Arab who is
slightly smaller (15). I never pay much attention to heart rate going down
(care of my horses legs never lets me put enough stress on his heart to get
any valid HR info).  When we have trained or ridden together, here is what
I observe. On flat, my horses HR is 8-10 beats faster. On the ups my horses
heart rate rises faster and stays higher, maybe 10-15 beats more. When we
get to a test recovery (all our rides include a simulated gate-into-hold
recovery) Tzadik's heart rate drops very fast until the two are equal at
about 90 and when both are in condition, they drop from 90 to criteria at
about the same rate. (You need also to know that all test recoveries we do
are from a direct stop while going at the highest sustained heart rate for
the ride. This isn't good management for a ride, but we want "worst case"
recoveries for tests and to be able to compare condition from one day to
the next, not the effect of "walking in" for some distance. In a ride, we
give the horse all the help we can by slowing down and walking in.

Since my horses resting heart rate is the lowest of any in our pasture (I
always measure it now higher than 30-34 after tacking up. Once it was as
low at 25.) the fact that his heart rate has to beat measurably higher on
any given terrain carrying my weight suggests to me that he is working
harder. His recovery says he is in condition to do that extra work. 

As a heavy weight rider, I certainly don't want any unfair handicap or
bonus. On the other hand, if the purpose of the Best Condition award is to
recognize the horse that is in the Best Condition, it seems fair to
recognize that portion of the horse's condition that carries the extra
weight as well as the portion that negotiates the course. To say "a horse
can be trained to carry the weight without a problem" and not to recognize
the condition that is the result of that training is to say we ought to
give the award to the pasture horse that is healthy because that horse
COULD be trained to come in first at a ride.

I don't know what a "fair" system to evaluate the effect of weight and
riding time is. I will leave that to the experts. I very much enjoy the
opportunity to  train my friend Tzadik and then compare the results of that
training with other qualified riders and horses. I don't want to obtain a
BC on an unfair advantage any more than I would want to print up a fake "BC
blanket" and put it on my horse. I say we let the AERC do what they have
been doing: use their best judgment to develop a system, and then live by it.

Byron and Tzadik (Gosh, Dad, drink DIET coke from now on!)